Her chest felt tight as the walls of the tunnel reverberated with the crowd’s cheers just beyond the iron gate. The shield’s handle was slick in her palm and she feared she’d lose grip if she needed to use it, goddess forbid. Five minutes. Just five minutes in the arena and she’d earn her first marking, then she’d be granted a weapon that could kill those creatures. A large buzzer sounded and she could tell from the gasps of the audience that another failed. Failure wasn’t an option; she wasn’t going to die before she received a blessing.
The announcer’s voice was muffled but she knew her time was up. The iron gate rose and she entered into the sunlight, lifting her shield against the sun to protect herself from being blinded. The crowd was deafening and she could feel the very ground shake as people stomped their feet and yelled. Not a week ago she’d been one of those spectators, and now she was one in front of thousands standing where so many had fallen. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and she fought to keep herself from getting overwhelmed. Though adrenaline was good to keep her energized and aware, it often made people make mistakes--she was not going to be one of those people.
Arranged at the edges of the arena were swords, spears, and extra shields, though she doubted she’d use any of them. As long as she kept out of the grasp of the Turned she wouldn’t need to worry about becoming another stain on the ground beneath her feet. A second buzzer cut through the air and the crowd got even louder; the beast would be released.
300. 299. 298.
Her internal countdown began as the hologram ticker presented the time above her. The gate opposite her rose slowly but was quickly interrupted when a small black creature rammed into it, warping the iron as it forced its way past and charged toward her. As it approached she made sure to jump away at the last second so it would have to take more time to recuperate.
She did this several more times and started feeling confident that she’d be able to get through the five minutes without the use of any extra effort. That is until the monster curled into a ball when it missed her, whipping her in the side with its tail as it landed ungracefully on its head.
174. 173. 172
Blood splattered from her unguarded ribs as she fought to stay conscious. This was the price she was paying for getting cocky, and by the vast amount of pain that wracked her body, it was a heavy one. Even if she’d been able to block the blow with her shield there was no way she’d be getting away unscathed.
The monster charged again and this time she ran towards the closest weapon; the spear. She managed to grab onto the handle just as the creature got within range. Shutting away the pain, she threw her shield at its legs, causing it to stumble and giving her enough time to sprint away to the other side of the arena. The monster rose and shook itself off, turning around with newfound fury burning in its red eyes. It charged at her again, and this time when she avoided it she made sure to dodge far enough away from its tail.
95. 94. 93.
She ran around the arena, picking up the other spear as she ran so she had one in each hand. Whipping around she saw the monster square up with her, formulating its own plan. They circled each other and she had to fight the urge to look down at her throbbing wound. The black crystal beast roared and launched its body at her; she needed to time this perfectly. She ran as hard as she could to the edge of the arena, a few feet away from the wall itself. As the monster closed in, she ran toward it, her spears at ready. Before it got too close, she jumped out of the way but this time as high as her legs would take her. Its tail whipped around as she’d planned and she pushed off with her feet, flying through the air toward the wall.
42. 41. 40.
She plunged the weapons into the hardened wall, screaming in pain as the force agitated her side even more. To her luck both her spears remained and she struggled to pull herself up onto her small perch. The monster clawed at the wall below her, roaring at her as she remained out of its reach. The spears wouldn’t hold for long and she regretted not trying to find another, though she could do nothing at this point except hope they remained holding until the ticker ran out.
10. 9. 8.
The spears quivered under her weight.
7. 6. 5.
Metal groaned against stone as she willed the spears to remain in place.
4. 3. 2.
She fell into the open jowls of the beast.
The buzzer rang through the arena and she opened her eyes. The beast was directly above her with its claw raised to strike but it never would. Spears jutted out of its body, pinning it in its final act before death. The arena cried her name as she crawled out from underneath it. For some reason, it wasn’t a name she was familiar with, but she knew it was hers. The pain was gone as if the worship of the crowd had healed her. Today was her victory and nothing would take that away from her.
“Why?” a soft, broken voice mumbled.
She turned around to see a woman she didn’t recognize pierced through by spears, black blood oozing from the impact points. No, that woman was her, but not her. Wait, who was she? What was her name?
“Why did you take my life from me?” The woman choked out, blood dripping from her mouth. “Give it back. Give it back!”
Blood poured from her eyes and nose as she screamed the words, pooling around both of them until the entire arena was flooded.
“We should leave before we get consumed.” A younger voice declared.
A little girl with green hair and black eyes appeared beside her, floating above the blood, and grabbed her by the hand. The instant they made contact, they were both transported into a world of made of darkness. Floating orbs greeted the smaller girl and floated just beyond reach for herself. It was beautiful in this place.
“Hey,” the younger girl snapped her fingers in front of her. “Stop zoning out. Do you remember yet?”
“Remember what?”
The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. “Just this one time, okay? I’m not giving you any more favors, but going through this again before we even get to the good parts is just a pain in the ass.” She plucked an orb from the air and shoved it into the woman’s chest.
Terra blinked and looked around at the change of surroundings. “What just happened?”
“Figure it out yourself, you’ve got a mess to clean up.” Alter said impatiently and shoved Terra backward.
And this time, when Terra opened her eyes, she was staring through a small pane of glass into what looked like some sort of medical room, but she was more concerned at her own translucent reflection.
Dark brown eyes stared back in awe and a mess of dark brown hair pointing in all direction dropped down just above her shoulders. From what she could tell from just basic observation, she had somehow switched bodies once again. She’d never been one to stare at herself in the mirror due to the uncomfortableness she felt when a stranger stared back, but this body had different colored hair, eyes, and skin, so she had definitely changed somehow.
To Terra’s dismay, she felt considerably well-rested considering the torrent of nightmares she’d been fighting for the past month. Every time she fell asleep, it felt as if parts of her were being consumed by the things that lurked in the shadows of her mind, eating away her memories and the things that made her her. As much as she hated to admit it, Alter had been the one that saved her. What did she mean by having a mess to clean up anyway?
In the confined space she lay she could hear a muffled siren that went off every three seconds. She tried to look down to see if there was any latch near her arm she could push to release her, but she only managed to leave the print of her forehead on the glass in front of her. That act called forth a face she hadn’t seen in a while appearing on the other side of the transparent barrier, whose eyes lit up and excitedly ran away. A few seconds later, Terra heard the hiss of hydraulics as a panel above her rose and shifted to the side, releasing her from her cage. The sound of the blaring siren became more apparent now, coupled with the distant wailing of people. She cautiously took a step out and nearly jumped when Regal grabbed her arm to support her, gently removing the IV in her arm.
“How’s it feel to be back with the living, Jer?” He asked with a smile, his eyes soft with an emotion she didn’t recognize.
Terra’s own eyes went wide at the realization she’d taken over the body of someone she’d met before. Wait, then what happened to Jer’s consciousness? What would Regal and Brit do if they found out she wasn’t Jer?
“It’s a little weird I guess,” Terra said warily, hoping she wouldn’t do anything out of the ordinary that Jer wouldn’t do. “How long have I been out?”
Regal grabbed her shoulders and wrapped Terra in a hug before she could jump away. He was shaking and the only comfort she could give him was a gentle squeeze back. When he pulled away he quickly wiped away the wetness from his eyes and turned his back to her so she couldn’t see the tears of happiness that he continued to shed.
“We’re glad you’re back kiddo,” Brit spoke, a smile parting his typically grim exterior.
Terra felt her stomach turn as she received a hero’s welcome in the place of Jer. There was no mask around, therefore no transfer of her consciousness, so why was this happening? Did Alter have something to do with this?
A deep roar shuttered the walls around them, bringing Terra back to her senses.
“What was that?” she cried.
“Looks like the UC didn’t account for a monster showing up within their walls,” Brit spoke, grabbing a pack and throwing it to Regal, then grabbing two much larger packs and slinging them over his shoulders. “We’re getting out of here now. Have you got the location on the girl?”
“No,” Regal replied, grabbing his screen from the table. “Cameras lost sight of her when she went into the fridge. I’ve lost the feed in the kitchen, but still have one eye in the cafeteria and two in the hallway. There’s a chance she’s alive even if the monster’s there, but it’s slim.”
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“We just need her body to get our fee. Any way we can sneak in undetected into the kitchen?” Brit made sure his boots were tied and his under-armor were snuggly in place.
“Not unless you want to get mauled. I hate to say this, but we have to bet on the UC winning this fight.” Regal sighed, drawing out his own gun and strapping it to his thigh holster, already knowing Brit’s response would be.
“That’s a chance we’re not taking. Jer put these on.” Brit ordered, placing a set of armored clothing on the table along with a firearm. Terra quickly did as she was told and changed, though Regal turned bright red and muttered curses while Brit wasn’t even paying attention. She hesitated when she grabbed the gun and holstered it, hoping she wouldn’t actually have to use it. “I wish we could have waited a few more days so you could adjust to this entire situation and explain where we are, but our deadline has been pushed up. I’m not going to force you to come with us since you just woke up, but if you want to continue being part of the team you have no choice.”
His words hung stagnant in the air, tension rising every second she didn’t answer. She saw Regal’s face drop when she didn’t give an immediate response, but she needed to take a second and think about what was going on. Firstly, there was no way she could let the two know that she wasn’t Jer since she didn’t know how they’d react. With that in play, she had no clue what Jer acted like or what they knew since she’d only met them in passing over a month ago. Plus, she’d been certain Jer had been a male before, so the fact she was currently female was another mystery only the real Jer could solve.
Then again, if she stayed behind she’d probably have to deal with the Colonel and get assigned in the kitchen again, and she didn’t think she could handle that torture, both physically and mentally. Plus, what if the nightmares came back? She shivered at the idea of living through another day in that arena. Facing that monster over and over again, the bloodied woman, forgetting who she was until something snapped her out of her sleep--she couldn’t go through it again. She nodded at Brit, sealing her fate.
Regal jumped in, holding his screen out for her to see.
“Target is in this blind spot. That’s the thing we have to subdue with force.” He pointed at a monster Terra was very familiar with. It was currently engaged in a very one-sided fight with multiple people, leaving a bloodied mess in its wake. Her stomach churned when she saw a person get decapitated. She opened her mouth to tell them bullets wouldn’t hurt it but remembered Jer wouldn’t know that fact, so she quickly disguised it as a yawn. Where the hell was her crystal? After all the training she’d done to get better control of them they were nowhere to be seen. Terra mentally summoned them with no avail. Just her luck.
“I’ll carry your supplies. Just stay behind us and remember your training.” Brit said as he led the way, exiting the medical bay and into the training room hall, parting the crowds with very little effort, only be stopping when the Colonel jumped in front of him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He snidely cut in.
“We’re leaving,” Brit calmly stated, though anyone with a brain could hear the threats it carried.
“The monster is still loose up there, you’re only rushing into your deaths. The Elites are up there dealing with it.”
“Like I said, we’re leaving.” The force in Brit’s voice actually caused the Colonel to step back, though he quickly straightened up to meet eye-to-eye with the other man.
“I don’t know who you think I am, but I am not one to be trifled with!” The Colonel yelled, spittle flying from his mouth. “Whatever deal you’ve got with the Elders doesn’t apply in this situation. You WILL NOT leave this place!”
Nobody was surprised when Brit’s fist bore its full force on the other man’s jaw, leaving him sprawled and unconscious on the ground. Terra couldn’t help but crack a smile as her tormentor was brought to swift justice. Brit wordlessly stepped over the body and headed to the elevator. Terra wasn’t as classy and flipped the unconscious man off, inciting a snort from Regal.
As they approached, the stench of death wafted toward them and Terra was astonished that she hadn’t noticed it earlier. Its pungent stench was suffocating, overwhelming every other one of her senses. Her empty stomach churned as her eyes burned and watered. She tried breathing through her mouth, but the taste of blood clung to the air and she gagged. Both the men in front of her were going through the same experience, yet they seemed composed, stepping on corpses in order to stand in the elevator. She tried her best to seem unfazed but still flinched when she heard a rib crack under her boot and heard the squish as she slipped on someone’s internal organs. How could anyone not flinch at this?
“Monster’s still in the cafeteria. These are the Elites,” Regal spoke, pointing to four different locations on the screen. “They apparently hold weapons that can kill the creature, but we need to trap the thing first, which is why we needed these guns first,” pointing at locations in the dining hall where more bodies lay. “I saw one of the teams lay down the magnet traps, but the team that was supposed to tag the thing died. Get the guns, tag the monster, and the mag-traps automatically activate. Then we’ll have time to grab the Elites’ weapons and kill the thing.”
“I’ll distract it. Regal, you grab the gun to the south, Jer, the one nearest the door. Tag it and run. Priority one is eyes on the girl. We don’t know if those weapons the Elites had actually work, so let’s not depend on them considering they’re all dead.” ordered Brit, drawing his weapon.
The elevator lurched to a halt, Terra amazed it could even function with missing doors and a clawed up interior. And the pile of bodies weighing it down. Looking down the hallway there was a vast amount of debris, the remains of the elevator doors, and too many bodies to count, but no sign of the beast.
“It didn’t hear us, it’s hunched over a body in the cafeteria,” Regal whispered, shoving his screen into his pocket and unholstering his gun.
Terra did the same but kept her finger off the trigger. The cool metal felt heavy and uncomfortable in her hands; she wanted her crystals back. She tried calling for them again in the hopes they would magically appear when she needed them most.
Brit and Regal stealthily maneuvered through the obstacles in the hallway and Terra did her best to imitate them. The older man pulled a cylindrical canister from his belt, motioning for the other two to cover their ears. He pulled a pin out and two seconds later Terra saw a bright light emanate from the doorway and smoke filled the room.
Regal rushed in, Terra close behind, while Brit shot at the silhouette of the monster, turning its attention to him. Terra parted from Regal, trying her best to remember where he’d pointed out the mag-gun would be. She saw the dark figurines of bodies near her, bile rising to her throat when she saw they were all missing at least one limb. There was no way she’d be searching through those bodies to find a gun.
She followed along the wall, the smoke clearing the farther she went into the room, pausing when she heard a break in the sound of gunfire. An explosion ripped the wall directly behind her, its force blasting her a few feet, landing painfully but uninjured on the body of a stranger. Terra propelled herself to the side just as the monster jumped through the gap in the wall. Its eyes locked onto her, locating its next target.
Sprinting forward to get away, she didn’t notice the body sprawled out on the floor, her foot catching on its side. She turned to see how much time she had before the beast got to her, but was instead distracted by the identity of the body she’d tripped over. Her heart stopped beating when she saw Eimose’s eyes halfway open and unmoving, permanently staring at the ceiling. His chest was still, several deep wounds etched in his chest, dark blood pooled around his body. The crystallized arm was cracked in several places, looking on the verge of crumbling apart. Terra’s body froze as she failed to process what she was seeing.
Regal’s body tackled Terra’s, knocking her out of the way just as a claw ripped apart the ground where’d she’d crumpled.
“Get it together!” He screamed, dragging her to her feet and pulling her away. “The mag-traps didn’t work. Brit’s hurt but alive, so now I’m the distraction. Get one of those crystals and kill that thing before we all turn out like Eimose!” Regal opened fire on the creature, running away from Terra and back into the cloud of smoke.
From the back of the cafeteria, near the kitchen, a frantic rattling stopped and something whistled through the air toward Terra. She lifted her hand into the air, wincing when a solid object flew into her palm, knowing immediately that her crystals had returned to their rightful owner.
It was little comfort having the weight of something familiar in her hand, but that solid mineral touch seemed to be the thing that kept her from falling to her knees and sobbing. Her brain was still struggling to process the gruesome scene and no part of her wanted to look up and witness Eimose’s broken body lying crumpled on the floor again. The world around her went silent as waves of emotions crushed her under their weight and she struggled to breathe. She was drowning, but this time Eimose wasn’t there to keep her sane.
When the creature let out a triumphant cry, something inside her snapped. She turned her crystal into a sickle and chain, flinging them at the origin of the sound. The weapon stuck tight on the monster’s back, a satisfying scream of pain erupting as the beast turned its attention to its tormentor. Terra could make out the silhouette of the lumbering creature charging at her through the smoke and ran straight at it, pulling on the chain at the last minute to jump over its open jaws and fling herself onto its back. She formed two swords connected by chains in her hands and jabbed them into the back of the monster’s neck, using her weight to drag them down and effectively slice through half its neck. She jumped out of the way as the monster slipped in its own dark blood and fell clumsily to the ground. Before it could get back up, Terra sliced through the remaining neck muscles and killed the creature. And then she stood there, waiting for something remarkable to happen. For something to prove all the casualties were worth it. Nothing did.
She’d done it, she’d killed the monster. But accomplishment was not the feeling she was consumed with when she stared down at the bleeding creature at her feet. Her eyes made their way to Eimose’s body, and without realizing it, her feet as well. And then she found herself kneeling at his side, her jumper slick with his blood.
Since Indo and Petri’s death, she’d wanted nothing to do with this man. Every time he’d look at her he’d bear the weight of guilt and responsibility in his eyes, so she knew that he fully understood that only his death would recompense for the pain he’d caused her. So why was she one hurting?
Tears rolled down her cheeks and she made no effort to stop them. She didn’t understand why Eimose could be causing her so much pain when they weren’t even friends. Or had they been and she’d been too stubborn to realize it? With a shaking hand, she closed his eyes so they wouldn’t promise her hope of him returning. She blinked away tears and stared down at the crystal in her hand. What was the point in having this thing if she couldn’t stop people from dying?
“Wow, you really did a number on--oh. Uh, oh. Are you okay?” Regal approached her, trying not to slip on the vast amount of blood on the floor. “I didn’t realize you two were close?”
She didn’t respond, only shoving her crystal into her pocket and standing up to get away from Eimose’s body.
“A--lright. Brit’s all bandaged up and cleaning up some stuff that spilled from the pack. He’d used his bag as a shield and got ripped open. You search for the girl’s body yet?”
She couldn’t summon the energy to shake her head, salty emotions continuing to drip down her face. Regal sighed and grabbed some rags from his pack and shoved them into Terra’s hands.
“Clean yourself up, I’m going to see where the body is.”
Terra heard his light footsteps patter past her. Her feet somehow dragged her into the hallway without her knowing, where she saw Brit hastily picking up discarded belongings. Blood soaked through bandages on his side, though it looked shallow enough for him to be moving around without much pain.
“Looks like you finally cleaned up your mess,” Alter spoke. Terra numbly looked up and saw the girl with a coy smile floating above her. “See what happens when you forcibly take over a body? Anyway, I’ve got something that might help you, but there’s a price.”
She stared at Alter with hollow eyes.
“Wow, real energetic response. I guess you don’t want Eimose back.”
Terra gasped, her consciousness rushing back in a snap. “What do I need to do?” She frantically whispered so Brit couldn’t hear.
“It’s less of what you need to do and more what you need to pay.”
“I’ll pay whatever! How do you bring him back?”
Alter’s eyes twinkled. “Okay, your words not mine. Check under that block of concrete and you’ll find what you need. You’ll know what to do with it when you see it. Be warned, the price will be paid the instant you use it.”
Terra dove to the block, lifting it with a strength she didn’t know she had. There, hidden under rubble and a thin coat of dust, was the wish she didn’t know she’d had, the chance she’d long forgotten--the clear crystal.
She cradled the object in her palms, using the rags in her hands to made the crystal shine. Truth be told, she didn’t know how to use it, but she knew what she desired.
The cool exterior of the crystals turned warm in her hands as colors she couldn’t describe flowed on the clear surface. Time stood still as the crystal erupted in a mass of brilliant lights. And when Terra opened her eyes, the crystal was gone.